Commentary on "Saint-Just et la force des choses"

[montagnarde1793]

I've only watched about half of the second part of "Saint-Just et la force des choses," but I can tell you right now that it really makes me want to spork my eyes out.

Now off to watch the second half... which I admittedly don't have particularly high hopes for.
 

The actor playing Saint-Just is a terrible orator. He’s also apparently not the only one wearing eyeliner; Hébert is too. The Billaud in this has the same outfit and haircut as the Fouché in LTeLV did. Creepy.   

Okay, so they just portrayed Saint-Just, Robespierre, and… Barère as pretty much telling the other members of the CSP what to do. Then they’re the only ones to speak to Fouquier, who seems to think it’s dishonest to try the Hébertistes with Proli, Pereyra, and that bunch. Imagine: Fouquier!

And we’re back to Saint!Danton, planning to have dinner with Robespierre to convince him to go over to the side of the Dantonistes: “Enough. Enough intrigue, enough blood. Let the Republic be loved and respected. He’ll understand.” Which is of course setting us up for his not “understanding,” most likely because he’s “Evil Incarnate.”

I love Collot d’Herbois speaking against Tallien… He really should have kept that up. >___<

Why is everyone in this movie so thin? They all look like they’ve not had a decent meal in months. (Well, except Hébert and Danton. Maybe they stole all the food.)

O.o; Robespierre’s only reaction to being asked to sign the Dantonistes’ arrest is to say “Camille” twice. You would think he’d have said something a *bit* more articulate than that.

And then Desmoulins says, naturally, that Saint-Just is avenging himself for the comment he made about his carrying his head “Like the holy sacrament.” Which, since it’s something Desmoulins would say, isn’t a problem so much as the film’s not offering another compelling reason is.

Okay, first, I did not need to see Danton and his child-bride in bed. Second, why is Louise wearing shimmery eye shadow?!

Woah, did Billaud just coerce Carnot into signing the Dantonistes arrest warrant? I somehow doubt that’s how it happened.

They just changed Lindet’s line into this, for whatever reason: “I’m charged with feeding France, not providing fodder for the scaffold.”

Oh, that was hilarious—I’m sure it didn’t happen like this, but it was hilarious none the less—the other members of the CSP, in particular Billaud, just told Saint-Just there was no way Danton could be present when he read his report to the Convention, and Saint-Just stormed out, throwing the report in the air on his way.

…Their Robespierre does nothing but yell. Even his speeches are yelled. I don’t understand why they think it’s in character for him to be yelling at Legendre. At least they used the historical words from the day after the Dantonistes’ arrest, though they cut all the best parts of Robespierre’s speech. Also… WTF, Saint-Just seems a bit lukewarm with his clapping for Robespierre there. Are they trying to imply he doesn’t really agree but feels forced to applaud? D: And then Legendre just has this look… He looks like a kicked puppy and claims that he doesn’t intend to defend any individual and goes back to his seat. *facepalm*

OMSB, they have the scene from Barras’s memoirs… I so do not want to know how this is going to go. But I’m going to watch it anyway, because I’m a masochist. Okay, so Éléonore just literally *ran* to warn Robespierre, only getting there two seconds before Barras and Fouché do—at which point they shove her out of the way—and then they try to act all polite and friendly, but, as Barras reports it, he ignores them. He seems to be scraping his forehead with something, which is a bit odd. ROTFL, Robespierre just dipped his finger in a glass of wine and started scrubbing his teeth with it and then gargling with it. I’m pretty sure that’s not how it’s done… WTF, he totally just spit at them. Not that they don’t deserve it, but I thought Barras’s account was extremely unlikely in the first place, and this just makes it worse. He never says a word to them. He doesn’t even tell them to leave, like he does in LTeLV. I honestly don’t think my brain can handle the WTFery.

There are a lot of shots in this of carriages transporting Saint-Just to and from the armies… And now there’s a random ten seconds or so of Saint-Just dozing in one.

And again, OOC Robespierre throws things and yells at Saint-Just when Saint-Just says he shouldn’t have been recalled from the armies. He says he needs Saint-Just there because some people have tried to assassinate him and refers to the Ladmiral and Cécile Renault affairs. Then he claims he’s not afraid… So his logic in this appears to be that Saint-Just needs to be there because he “feels alone” and thinks he’s going to be assassinated, and yet he doesn’t care if he’s assassinated? *headdesk*

Now he says a few things that are in character, even though the way he says them is not in character at all: he talks about how he recalled the “proconsuls” and how they need to be taken down, and then about how the very people who “voted Danton’s death” are now crying over him. But he says it like the paranoid, twitching, old, inhuman character this movie obviously thinks he was.

Then they have Robespierre say, “My work (oeuvre) is indestructible!” …And he’s still yelling at Saint-Just. And telling him about what would become the Law of 22 Prairial in an entirely improbable way. Obviously, we can only theorize about his object in supporting it, but first, it wasn’t just his idea that he had Couthon introduce, as this film seems to believe, and secondly, I don’t think he meant it as a means of “augmenting the Terror,” as he says here. And then Saint-Just says that ordinary methods will suffice to get rid of the “five or six” future Thermidorians Robespierre has in mind, and they get into a huge argument about this law, along rather predictable lines. You know, Robespierre asks him to make the report, and he refuses. Which Robespierre seems to find funny; apparently, they’re going with the “theory” that Robespierre believed disagreement with himself on anything to be impossible. My brain! ;O;

And then Robespierre says Saint-Just’s “attitude weakens us,” to which Saint-Just replies (yelling, of course) that “this law will weaken us.” And then he says his line about how “strong liqueurs dull the palate; the scaffold soon ceases to have an effect (the word he uses is blaser, which I would normally translate as “dull,” but that doesn’t make sense in this context) on crime “… to Robespierre! And then he starts speechifying about how shame is more powerful than death… And Robespierre laughs at him again. O____o;;; And now, *apparently*, Robespierre *made* Saint-Just write that report against the Dantonistes. Oh really!

And then Saint-Just says that tensions are high and need to be relaxed, not tightened; an idea which Robespierre completely dismisses, saying “I know better than you what needs to be done.” After which Saint-Just says he’s “returning to the armies.” After which Robespierre completely changes his tone and asks why Saint-Just doesn’t stay for the FdlÊS, and Saint-Just says he’s leaving immediately. And then Robespierre starts talking about the FdlÊS in a really, really OOC way, he talks about how he’s going to “lead the cortège”—even the movie “Sade” did a better job of making him in character than this! (As if he hadn’t been OOC enough in this scene, in this movie in general!) And then Saint-Just just says, “I can’t, Maximilien, I regret.” WTF, why???

This is really getting OOC to the point of hilarity. As soon as Saint-Just leaves, Robespierre literally throws his glasses and then has some laudanum. Clearly his laudanum addiction explains his strange behavior. It’s painful to laugh at this, but it’s really just so… WTF.  

 

 

 

Comments

[maelicia.livejournal.com]

Okay, first, I did not need to see Danton and his child-bride in bed. Second, why is Louise wearing shimmery eye shadow?!
ROTFLMAOWTF??? Someone ought to tell them what sort of make-up was available back then. XDDD

just told Saint-Just there was no way Danton could be present when he read his report to the Convention, and Saint-Just stormed out, throwing the report in the air on his way
Wha--no hat-burning?

Their Robespierre does nothing but yell. Even his speeches are yelled
Oh noez, he's going to have a sore throat. D:

Robespierre just dipped his finger in a glass of wine and started scrubbing his teeth
Um. Isn't wine... staining your teeth?

And again, OOC Robespierre throws things and yells at Saint-Just when Saint-Just says he shouldn’t have been recalled from the armies. He says he needs Saint-Just there because some people have tried to assassinate him and refers to the Ladmiral and Cécile Renault affairs. Then he claims he’s not afraid… So his logic in this appears to be that Saint-Just needs to be there because he “feels alone” and thinks he’s going to be assassinated, and yet he doesn’t care if he’s assassinated? *headdesk*
Someone should tell Robespierre that if he continues acting this OOC way, this OOC Saint-Just will assasinate him. Like in Jamet's Maximilien et Antoine. *headdesk*

…And he’s still yelling at Saint-Just.
...Tell him to stop. Just... just stop, Maxime.

even the movie “Sade” did a better job of making him in character than this!
When you think of it attentively, isn't this the most pathetic thing ever, seriously?

And then Saint-Just just says, “I can’t, Maximilien, I regret.” WTF, why???
I actually have many ideas on how that one quote could be re-used in different contexts, but I'll refrain.

As soon as Saint-Just leaves, Robespierre literally throws his glasses and then has some laudanum.
o________________________________________O? That's so fucking wrong. Oh, wait, isn't that scene a bit like a parallel to LRF's Infamous Chair-Breaking?

And I never knew Robespierre had a laudanum addiction. That asks for crack-writing.


Man, when I think that I write their quarrels and rants domestic rows about sex more accurately than the way they write their quarrels and rants domestic rows about politics...

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

Really. Someone also should inform them that everyone did not go around wearing eyeliner. >__<

Nope, no hat-burning... Just papers flying everywhere. Admittedly not nearly as entertaining.

This Robespierre doesn't seem to have any problems with yelling though... He just seems in general more robust than the Maxime we know and love--that one scene at the start of part two is the only time he's sick in the whole movie.

Someone should tell Robespierre that if he continues acting this OOC way, this OOC Saint-Just will assasinate him. Like in Jamet's Maximilien et Antoine. *headdesk*
I nearly thought it would come to that... Except that Saint-Just is saintly in this (by which I mean he's really against any of Robespierre's ideas or policies that the filmmakers don't like, or having difficulty explaining the reasons for)--that's naturally why Robespierre has to be so evil--one or more of the Robespierristes always seems to need to be OOC for people to wrap their minds around them. D:

...Tell him to stop. Just... just stop, Maxime.
He can't; he's on crack laudanum.

I actually have many ideas on how that one quote could be re-used in different contexts, but I'll refrain.
Oh, doubtless it works elsewhere, just not there. What did you have in mind, specifically? O.o

There are lots of scenes in this moving that parallel the Infamous Chair-Breaking... but I can't really think of a parallel to Maxime being on laudanum. I just... can't.

And I never knew Robespierre had a laudanum addiction. That asks for crack-writing.
Yes, yes it does. You know you want to do it. :D?

You are unfortunately correct... Which actually makes me really glad this movie is so hard to get a hold of. *shudders*

[josiana.livejournal.com]

Why is everyone in this movie so thin? They all look like they’ve not had a decent meal in months. (Well, except Hébert and Danton. Maybe they stole all the food.)
Symbolism.

Okay, first, I did not need to see Danton and his child-bride in bed. Second, why is Louise wearing shimmery eye shadow?!
Again, Symbolism!!! It symbolizes her virtuous and innocent nature.

Oh, that was hilarious—I’m sure it didn’t happen like this, but it was hilarious none the less—the other members of the CSP, in particular Billaud, just told Saint-Just there was no way Danton could be present when he read his report to the Convention, and Saint-Just stormed out, throwing the report in the air on his way.
That sounds hilarious. XDD

Also… WTF, Saint-Just seems a bit lukewarm with his clapping for Robespierre there. Are they trying to imply he doesn’t really agree but feels forced to applaud? D:
Or it was just bad acting. ^_^
This is really getting OOC to the point of hilarity. As soon as Saint-Just leaves, Robespierre literally throws his glasses and then has some laudanum. Clearly his laudanum addiction explains his strange behavior. It’s painful to laugh at this, but it’s really just so… WTF.
Awwww. ;____; Um. Well, it’s not completely unlikely that he might have taken some, because it was such a common medical thing, but …still. No. And wtf, throwing your glasses. ;___; I don’t even do that, and they’re much less harder to come by now.


And in conclusion: Symbolism!

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

The thinness, or Danton and Hébert's having conspired to steal everyone else's dinner?

So eyeshadow=innocence and shimmery=virtue... Or is it the other way around? XD;

It was: the papers just floated everywhere.

With this movie, that's always a distinct possibility.

Does it really count as a medical use when you take it after a fight with someone? (Well, whether it does or not, it seemed a whole lot like they were implying a laudanum addiction.) It's even worse than throwing a chair--it's not as if they had break-resistant glass in the 18th century.

Ooh, shiny.

[josiana.livejournal.com]

Probably both. ;_;

No, it's just the fact that it's shimmery eyeshadow that symbolizes virtue and innocence. Just plain eyeshadow would have meant something else entirely.

Wow. ;___; I kind of want to see it now.

Hm. ;_; I don't know. (They probably were, sadly.) ;__; I know.

I love the sparkle generator too much. ;-;

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

That would... actually make sense. O.o;

Good to know.

If you go into it expecting complete and utter crack, you might enjoy it.

The whole movie is pretty on the WTF-side, but that scene in particular was quite special. >.>

How does that even work?

[josiana.livejournal.com]

Then it must be something else!!! >.> Sense is not allowed.

Oh. ;-;

um. ...um. A wizard did it?

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

Not in this movie, anyway.

You might have gathered that from my commentary though.

But I mean... how do you use it?

[josiana.livejournal.com]

;__; I'm too tired to twist logic to support any more twisted symbolism.

Oh. ^^ You just go http://misc.inexistent.org/sparkle/ type in whatever you want to sparkle, pick the kind of glitter you want, and click generate. >__> There are other ways of doing it, but this is the easiest.

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

Pity. Twisted symbolism is so much fun. :/

Oh, yayz. I don't know when I'll have occasion to use it, but it's good to know.